Orion and the Dark

Grade: A-

Movies written by Charlie Kaufman tend to inspire weird unconventional reviews from critics. I was just on rogerebert.com. Both Brian Tallerico’s piece on I’m Thinking of Ending Things and Roger’s review of Synecdoche, New York are certainly unusual. Kaufman – the typer of the keys for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Adaptation, and Being John Malkovich – has a way of shining the flashlight into oft-unexplored corners of the consciousness. Orion and the Dark has his stamp all over it. I’d forgotten that he was associated with the project, then saw his name in the end credits, and that made sense.

Kaufman has dabbled in the animation world before, with 2015’s very interesting Anomalisa. I laughed at least three times in Orion’s first 5 minutes. It has a playful tone that is delightful. The main conceit alone could have made its own perfectly fine DreamWorks animated film, but Kaufman is involved, so of course there’s more to it. There is more than one storyline. I’ll leave you to find out how they are connected, and I’ll stick to just telling you about the one we start off with – what we think is the primary one.

Jacob Tremblay (Flounder from last year’s The Little Mermaid, and Brie Larson’s son in Room) provides the voice of Orion, an 11-year-old elementary school boy. He is a chronic worrier with a laundry list of fears, anxieties, and apprehensions. He’s afraid to try anything, because what if something bad happens? But he’s a good nice kid, an only child from a lovely, loving family, and the exposition sequence is thoroughly enjoyable.

One night, he is visited by Dark (Paul Walter Hauser from I, Tonya, BlacKkKlansman, and the title character in Richard Jewell). He’s not scary. He’s a big playful teddy bear with insecurities of his own – often feared, misunderstood, and even disliked (How many times has he had to overhear statements like “I hate the dark?”) Dark wants to help Orion conquer his fears, so he takes him along on one of his night shifts – 24 hours around the world – to show Orion the benefits of darkness. With him as always is his team of co-workers: Sleep, Quiet, Unexplained Noises, Insomnia, and Sweet Dreams. They reminded me of the emotions from Inside Out.

Dark’s arch-nemesis is Light, but they stay in their lanes for the most part. What they eventually come to learn is that though they have opposite functions and don’t directly work together, they complement each other. One can’t have its power, meaning, and purpose without the other. I have focused on one layer of the movie. There are more. I thought of Adaptation and Being John Malkovich before I was reminded that Charlie Kaufman was a writer here. He has the same twisty way of toying with the viewer, then playing straight with us, then toying with us about that. In the end, I wondered if everything really happened, or if not all of it was real – but loved everything I saw, nonetheless. Orion and the Dark will resonate differently with children and adults, particularly those old enough to remember the titles I mentioned. Last night as I went to bed, I imagined being visited and taken care of by this night crew.

Grade: A-